


The Asset Hates the Cold

by buckybarnesdeservestobehappy (hutchabelle)



Series: Bucky Barnes Bingo 2020 [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Assassins & Hitmen, Assets & Handlers, Bucky Barnes Bingo 2020, Canon Compliant, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Cold, Cold Weather, Cryogenics, Hunters & Hunting, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Memory Alteration, Memory Loss, Missions, Nightmares, Pre-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Wilderness, Wilderness Survival, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:00:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28435758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hutchabelle/pseuds/buckybarnesdeservestobehappy
Summary: The Asset is forced to survive in the wilderness. He's cold and alone, but he wasn't always that way. There were once people who loved him.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers
Series: Bucky Barnes Bingo 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2087151
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13
Collections: Bucky Barnes Bingo 2020





	The Asset Hates the Cold

**Author's Note:**

> Square Filled: Y2; Survival in the Wild  
> Ship: Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes
> 
> Double Bingo (again)!

It’s cold, and the Asset hates the cold. It’s the way they punish him, the way they make sure it sticks when they wipe him, the way they keep him prisoner. He doesn’t want to be here, but they’re teaching him a lesson.

He should be grateful. At least they aren’t torturing him with hot metal or knives or any other manner of pain that makes him scream in his sleep, even when he’s in cryostasis. It’s the cruelest thing of all to incapacitate him so he can’t escape from the torment of his own mind. He doesn’t trust it. Can’t trust himself in any way, except to know he’s the best at what he does. He’s the Winter Soldier, and no one can take that from him.

He wasn’t always. He knows that. Somewhere in the nethermost regions of his brain are warmer, softer, gentler memories of a time when he had a normal life. He had a family, parents, a mother who loved him, friends who made him laugh, girlfriends who wanted him, a best friend who got into more trouble than anyone had any business of finding. He couldn’t recall any specific recollections, but the murky, vague thoughts roiled below the surface. If he wasn’t so cold, maybe he’d sit down and try to make sense of them.

He can’t, though. He’s on a mission. That is clear. They dumped him in Siberia with nothing but his wits and a knife. He is an experiment. It’s his job to survive out here in only the bitter cold, the snow and ice, and almost nothing else. He can do this. The Asset is the best at what he does, and that means he must survive.

The days pass, but he doesn’t bother to count them. He simply exists, day after day, living off the food he can forage or kill. He starts a fire with a rock and the blade of his knife. He uses a glove to hold snow that melts to water. He lures a rabbit into a snare and cooks him for dinner. He’s useful. He’s deadly. He’s smart. The Winter Soldier can beat even the elements.

They come get him eventually. He’s praised for his efforts, but that doesn’t matter. As long as they don’t torture him, wipe his brain, lock him into a chair and shoot volts of electricity through him, he’s okay. If he can avoid those things, he’s won.

He’s sent on missions. He kills. He shapes the century. He follows orders. He does what he’s supposed to do because that’s who he is. He’s the Winter Soldier and nothing can distract him from his mission.

Until his mission unmasks him and calls him Bucky. He doesn’t know who that is, but the man on the bridge knows him. The Asset runs because, deep down, he’s sure he knows him too.


End file.
